# Would I be an idiot to buy this car? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670 "2010-02-04T14:23:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670/1 "2010-02-04T14:23:46Z")
I need a new car…well, not _new_ new, but used new. I know my current car won’t pas inspection (due this month,) and I’m not sinking anymore money into it (I bought it for $4500, finished paying off the laon last fall, but have sunk an additional $2500 _at least_ into it, and I’m guessing it’s current problems would cost over $1000 to fix.) I don’t want to take out another loan, even jsut a small one, so my budget is about $3000-$3500 (that might go up or down depending on what my tax refund is…my quick calculations say one thing, but once I sit down and therm for real that could change.) My car before my current one wsas a late 90’s Subaru Legacy GT, and I (for the most part…) loved it. So I started looking for used Legacy GTs…no small feat, as people around here either don’t have them, or don’t want to part with them. But I found one, selling for $2500, but one catch…it needs the transmission rebuilt, according to the seller. It’s a '99, and the regular GT, not the limited version, and the NADA and KBB values are right about $3000. I offered $1500, cause a tranny rebuild can be CRAZY expensive, and he went as low as $1900. I really, _really_ like this car, but would I be taking too big a chance? I mean…I figure if I spend a grand to get it fixed, then I’m “even,” as it were…but it cold easily go to two grand, right? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670/2 "2010-02-04T15:01:34Z")
Don’t rebuild the transmission. Drop in a used one. I’ve done it before and I’d do it again. ---
**Author:** ![crazyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@crazyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crazyjoe)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670/3 "2010-02-04T16:06:57Z")
Even with a new or rebuilt transmission, you’re looking at picking up an 11 year old car. The odds that a car that old is not going to need significant maintenance in the next year are pretty low. What are the odds that the car, as-is, will pass inspection? ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670/4 "2010-02-04T16:12:02Z")
So you want to dump your current car because it needs about $1,000 in work just to pass inspection, but you’re willing to spend $3,000-3,500 on another old used car that needs unknown work? Sorry, but I even passed the New Math years ago and your logic fails me. Drive what you need, not what you want. Keep your current car and do the work necessary to pass inspection. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670/5 "2010-02-04T17:24:38Z")
> [@Duckster](#): > > So you want to dump your current car because it needs about $1,000 in work just to pass inspection, but you’re willing to spend $3,000-3,500 on another old used car that needs unknown work? Sorry, but I even passed the New Math years ago and your logic fails me. It may not seem to make sense, but I have no doubts that I’ll put $1000 (if not more) right now to pass inspection, only to have to dump another $500 a few months from now for something else breaking, another $500, and so on. I was sold a POS lemon, and everything has problems. There comes a point when I have to stop flushing money into this toilet of a car. The car I’m looking at is the same age as my current one, but other than the transmission, it has no problems (at least none I can see…granted, since I couldn’t actually _drive it_, I can’t know for certain.) It did pass inspection in December, for what that’s worth. So yeah…I’m buying an old car, but like I said, I hate my current one, don’t want to pay to keep it limping along, and my budget basically says I have to get a car from late 90’s or early 2000’s at best. As to what I need and what I want, they go together. What I need is reliability…are Subarus the _most_ reliable? No, but the last two I had were good. I’d still be driving my old one i’m sure (a '97) if I didn’t get rear-ended. The all wheel drive helps in these northern winters. Eh…I suppose I’ll keep looking, maybe I’ll find something better. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670/6 "2010-02-04T17:29:17Z")
So in light of your experience, you’d be an idiot to buy this car (or any car) without a pre-purchase mechanical inspection by a trusted mechanic. Particularly with this car, there’s no point guessing what the transmission will cost to fix. Why guess? Ask someone who can tell you. ---
**Author:** ![BomTek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bomtek/32/21364_2.png) [@BomTek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BomTek)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670/7 "2010-02-04T20:22:31Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > So in light of your experience, you’d be an idiot to buy this car (or any car) without a pre-purchase mechanical inspection by a trusted mechanic. > > Particularly with this car, there’s no point guessing what the transmission will cost to fix. Why guess? Ask someone who can tell you. This. Personally, I think the Subie you’re looking at sounds like a bad deal, but you seem to have already mostly talked yourself into it. I may be wrong about that second part, but I’m getting that feeling from you. Get a CarFax report to make sure everything but the transmission is on the up-and-up (the individual selling the car should provide this for you; I wouldn’t think of buying a car from someone if he or she wasn’t willing to prove to me that it was a good car), go to a mechanic to figure out what a new or rebuilt transmission is going to run you, then decide if that’s something you wanna pay over the two grand purchase price. Pretty simple. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670/8 "2010-02-04T22:07:33Z")
Don’t do it. Go buy a car that actually runs and that you won’t have to expend beaucoup bucks and energy on to get operating properly. If putting in a new transmission was such a great idea, the current owner would do it and raise his selling price. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-i-be-an-idiot-to-buy-this-car/527670/9 "2010-02-04T23:37:10Z")
How many miles are on the car? I just traded in my '00 Legacy wagon with 162,300 miles on it and it was still hanging in there sort of. I looked at an '05 Legacy GT wagon but it was sold ☹ and bought an '07 Legacy Special Edition wagon (last year they made them) with 35,000 miles on it.🙂 Anyway… One thing you have to look out for is if the catalytic converter has been replaced because replacing one of those will cost another $1000 +. If the car’s pushing 100,000 miles and the catalytic converter hasn’t been replaced you’re gonna have to replace it soon (the check engine light will come on). You can’t pass inspection with a bum catalytic converter. Same thing with the timing belt. You need to check into that, too, and it’s an expensive fix. Other than that, enjoy your new (used) Subaru!